MUMBAI: It is a story worthy of a Bollywood plot: the son of a north Indian farmer, one of nine children, rising to become the face of independent Hindi cinema. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui is still getting used to his success.
"When someone is looking at me, I feel they are looking at someone standing behind me, not at me," the 40-year-old confessed to AFP during an interview at a Mumbai hotel. "I have not got used to it and I won't allow myself to feel like a star."
Winning awards for his roles in internationally-feted films such as ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ in 2012 and ‘The Lunchbox’ the following year, Siddiqui has become one of India's most respected actors.
It is a long way from his humble beginnings in Uttar Pradesh state, where he became the first graduate from his village with a degree in chemistry. After training at Delhi's National School of Drama, smitten with acting, he landed his first film appearance in the 1999 Aamir Khan movie ‘Sarfarosh’ (Fervour), and moved to Mumbai, the entertainment capital, in 2000. But he faced years of struggle and bit parts, often earning little cash, before he really became established.
The year 2012 was perhaps his best to date: along with the Wasseypur gangster epic and ‘Miss Lovely’, both selected for the Cannes Film Festival, he turned heads in crime thrillers ‘Kahaani’ (Story) and ‘Talaash’ (Search).
He said his family are still surprised by how far he has come. "And you cannot blame them. I am a five-foot six-inch, dark, ordinary-looking man. People didn't imagine that I would make it," he said.
"It is the mindset of our country too, that people like (me) don't become stars. Maybe it's a result of 200 years of colonial rule."
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